Yet this mysterious war seems to have more to do with the crumbling authority of the Yemeni state than with any single cause. The Houthi rebels, after all, are a small group who have never issued any clear set of demands. They have been fighting the government on and off since 2004, and it is not clear why President Ali Abdullah Saleh decided in August to force an all-out war.

“Saleh started this war mainly because he wants his son to succeed him, and many in the military and government do not accept this,” said one high-ranking Yemeni official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, echoing an analysis that is often heard here. “With a war, people rally around him, even the United States, because they fear chaos in Yemen if he falls.”

Webmaster's Commentary:

It appears that the US is again (still, yet) managing not to learn from its own history, when it comes to supporting those thugs in power who are "our thugs".

When peaceful revolution is impossible, violent revolution is inevitable.

It is painfully obvious that those in power in the US steadfastly refuse to understand this, and the results of that refusal continue to blow up in our faces geopolitically like a bad trick cigar.